UNCONDITIONAL TRUST
March 26, 2010
By Pastor Kim Hickcox
We often hear of God’s agape love, that unconditional love that is there NO MATTER WHAT! We know that His love is unconditional because:
1. 1 John 4:19, “We love Him, because He first loved us.” (NKJV) So He doesn’t love us through reciprocation.
2. 1 John 4:8, “…God is love.” (NKJV) It’s His very nature therefore it’s neither circumstantial nor emotional.
3. Romans 8:35 & 37-39, “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?...37Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loves us. 38For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, 39nor height, nor depth, not any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (NKJV)
Love has a partner, and that is TRUST! His unconditional love toward us needs to generate our unconditional trust toward Him.
· Would you marry someone you didn’t trust?
· Would you go into business with someone you didn’t trust?
· Would you let someone stay in your home you didn’t trust?
· Would you let someone watch your children you didn’t trust?
If it’s so necessary for us to be able to trust another person before we join with them, how can we not trust the omnipotent [all powerful], omniscient [all knowing], omnipresent [ever present] God? The One Who knows absolutely EVERYTHING – past, present, future and theoretical?
Proverb 3:5 tells us to, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding.” (NKJV) And why does Proverb 3:5 tell us not to trust our own understanding? Because of what Jeremiah tells us in 51:17, “Everyone is stupid and ignorant…”. A bit harsh in the translation, but just know that our knowledge can’t even fill a thimble compared to God’s.
All the more reason as to how awesome it is to have a personal, loving relationship of unconditional acceptance with THE Creator of the universe, THE author/inspiration of the Bible, the One whose very power holds absolutely every molecule to every thing together – the One without Whom anything would even exist! How can we NOT trust Him?
He made the world. He made us. He gave us a book full of truth. He gave us a foolproof way to be with Him all the time so He can help us with everything whenever we need or want it! How can we not trust Jesus?
Trust is actually another word for faith. Hebrews 11:1 says, “Now faith is the reality of what is hoped for, the proof of what is not seen.” (CSB) When you have faith in someone to do something – you are trusting them to do it before it’s done. Trust is faith.
All of us have trusted in the truth that when we accepted Jesus Christ as our personal Savior, He:
1) Now lives inside us as does the Father according to John 14:11, as does the Holy Spirit (John 16:7).
2) Forgave us of every single sin or wrong we have ever committed or will ever commit (Colossians 3:13-14).
3) Changed our spiritual lineage and heritage from Adam’s family to God’s family, so that we are now co-heirs with Him throughout eternity (Romans 8:14-17).
4) Changed our eternity from one of never-ending punishment and separation from Him to one of a never-ending paradise with Him (Colossians 1:9-14).
Now if we can trust Him to do all that, just by believing and accepting Him personally as our Savior, how can we not trust Him for anything else? What’s too hard for Him to do? Nothing!
Trust is faith and Hebrews 11:6 says that without faith it is impossible to please God. But you’re not out to please someone you don’t trust, are you?
Trust can keep us out of the grip of uncontrollable fear. Fear not is written 78 times in the Bible! He is not speaking of not getting scared, but He is speaking of the paralyzing fear that is so powerful that it stops you cold. Your thinking is controlled by it; you can’t sleep or function because it is controlling you.
The Lord assures us that this is not necessary 78 times in His Word. Now, being God, He really only has to say something once don’t you think? Why do you suppose He has emphasized this so much? Because it’s so powerful and we are so prone to subdue ourselves to it.
There is a healthy fear, which is just an alarm that goes off in us telling us that caution should be used, but that’s not what the Lord is addressing here. He is talking about the spirit of fear that can control us. Romans 8:31 says, “…If God is for us, who can be against us?” (NKJV) The PKV – Pastor Kim Version – translation of the Bible, reads like this: If God is for us, who can be against us, and who cares if they are?
Fear is one of those facets in our emotional make up that can cripple us:
A few years ago, when I was a professional Guardian in Pinellas County, I was summoned before a judge to submit my annual paperwork. The problem was that the attorney I was working with dropped me and it was a legal necessity to have an attorney sign off on my annual reports.
Well, as the time to appear got closer and closer, I went into a full-blown panic! I didn’t have an attorney, and as I was looking for pro-bono work, couldn’t find anyone to sign off with me. This meant that when I went in to the judge and presented my report without an attorney I would be in contempt of court! This carried a minimum $1000 fine and/or 30 days in jail.
Can you understand my panic? JAIL? That’s where they keep criminals! I’m not a criminal! I can’t go to jail! I didn’t have $1000 either! The whole reason I was trying to find a pro-bono attorney is because I didn’t have the $500 they charged just for a signature either!
When I shared my dilemma with others in the field, they just shook their head in remorse, telling me how merciless this particular judge was. So needless to say, I stopped talking to anyone about it.
By the time the night before my appearance got here, all I could do was lie on my bed and quote “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.”, hoping it would give me peace. It didn’t.
So as I sat in the waiting room, wondering how much stiffer the penalty would be if I just bolted, I just kept telling the Lord that it was just Him and me. I had no one else. I was scared to death, but I knew I was walking in with Him. As I walked in I was shaking.
The judge looked up and asked me if I was alright. No, I wasn’t. I handed him the list of attorneys I had called during the past 2 months, trying to get one to work with me, and explained that no one came to my aide. I apologized for not filing my reports on time, but without an attorney, I didn’t know what to do.
He looked at the list, which was over 2 pages long and covered 3 counties, and instantly became very angry – at them! He went on and on about how terrible it was that no one would help me! Then he dictated a letter for me to type up and sign with a place for his signature also. This letter gave me his personal permission to file all present and future reports to the State with my signature alone!
I danced out of that office! “If God is for us, who can be against us?” “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding.”
I prayed and prayed for Him to lead me to an attorney who would help me. And all I know is: when God did it His way – He received LOT & LOTS of glory and for years! Had He done things the way I asked for, He would have received just a little glory. I would still have been very grateful, but I doubt if I would be repeating this story 20 years later.
Trust means that you have confidence that God can do things His way even when they don’t line up with your ideas:
· Parting the Red Sea was probably not how Moses visualized crossing it and escaping from the Egyptians. (Exodus 14:10-31)
· Nor was hitting a rock probably his first idea as to how to get water for everyone in the dessert. (Exodus 17:1-7)
· Marching around Jericho and then yelling at it was probably not how the Hebrews envisioned taking down their first city in the Promised Land. (Joshua 6)
· The Disciples were pretty baffled when Jesus fed 5000 families with 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish too. (Luke 9:12-17)
Our God is a creator let Him be creative in your life too! It’s the most thrilling roller coaster ride you’ll ever get on!! And the landing is always safe!
[Speaking of being creative…]
Know that when God has decreed something – it will happen! You can put you trust in that too.
In 1st Kings 20, Israel was going to war. In vss 13 & 28, a prophet of God told King Ahab that He was going to win this war against the Syrians for them, so everyone would know that He is God. So the army killed 120,000 in one day, but 27,000 escaped. So in verse 30, we read, “…the rest fled to Aphek, into the city; and there a wall fell upon 27,000 of the men that were left…” (NKJV) God said the Syrian army was going to lose that day and Israel would win! Syria tried to run and hide so they could regroup and come back – God said no.
And just so you know – Ahab was an extremely evil king. But God was proving that He existed because lots of people (lots of Israelites) were doubting Him at the time.
Trusting in God takes time and experience. Experience means that things are going to happen that you either can’t fix or can’t control at all. But we have another promise from Him that we can hold on to – Romans 8:25-30, “But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with patience. 26In the same way the Spirit also joins to help in our weakness, because we do not know what to pray for as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with unspoken groaning. 27And He Who searches the hearts knows the Spirits’ mind-set, because He intercedes for the saints {all believers are saints} according to the will of God. 28We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God: those who are called according to His purpose. 29For those He foreknew He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brothers. 30And those He predestined, He also called; and those He called, He also justified; and those He justified, He also glorified.” (SCB)
Unconditional trust MUST be the life that we aspire to, because:
1. Trust is love’s partner.
2. Trust is faith.
3. Trust keeps us from living in fear.
4. And because when God says something is going to happen – IT WILL. For there’s no one or no thing powerful enough to stop it!
I challenge each of you to not try to figure out everything for yourself nor to put all of your trust in other people – but to put your trust in God, the only One who is truly worthy of it! The only One who will never let you down!!
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